Colorado State wants to see where it stands against No. 1 Alabama

Sep. 16, 2013

CSU defenders Trent Matthews (16) and DeAndre Elliott (13) leap for one of two field goals by Cal Poly kicker Bobby Zalud that were blocked Saturday by the Rams' Shaquil Barrett during a game at Hughes Stadium. / Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoan

A team nobody expects anything of goes in and knocks off one of the game's giants.

It happens every weekend. Eastern Washington stunned No. 25 Oregon State on the opening weekend this season, No. 12 Florida stumbled at Miami in Week 2, and No. 20 Wisconsin was victimized at Arizona State.

So it's possible, CSU coach Jim McElwain and two of his players said Monday, that the Rams (1-2) could burst the bubble of No. 1 Alabama (2-0) on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

"We're going in it expecting to win," senior cornerback Shaq Bell said at a weekly news conference that also included senior center Weston Richburg. "A lot of people won't believe in us, but we'll believe in that locker room."

But even McElwain had to admit it's not all that likely, given the way coach Nick Saban runs his Alabama program. The focus is always inward, said McElwain, who was Alabama's offensive coordinator under Saban from 2008-2011. What does his team have to do to improve?

It doesn't matter, McElwain said, if the Tide is facing Notre Dame in the national championship game or CSU in a nonconference contest early in the season.

"One of the things I know from being there is there is no letdown," McElwain said. "… It didn't ever matter who the opponent was, because the important thing was how do you move forward? How do you get better? How do you perfect your craft. These guys are going to come out ready to roll.

McElwain isn't conceding a loss. He simply was pointing out one of the strengths of an Alabama program that has won two straight national championships and three of the past four. No stone is left unturned in the preparation of Saban and his staff for a game, and he won't let them rest on their laurels. Last year's team is just that; last year's, not this year's. And there are too many good players competing for starting jobs every day in practice for those who hold those spots to become complacent. Even the stars know they can be replaced.

It's the kind of program he hopes to develop at CSU. This game, in fact, will serve as a good "baseline" indicator, the coach said, of where the Rams stand in relation to the best college football program in the country. CSU is scheduled to make a second trip to Alabama in either 2017 or 2019 under terms of the two-year contract the schools signed last fall that guarantees the Rams a $1.5 million payday for each of those games.

The Rams, he pointed out, should relish the opportunity to play at the 101,821-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium, with a national ESPN2 television audience looking on. There are only seven college football teams in the country that have the opportunity to play the Crimson Tide at the famed field this season, and CSU is one of them. No other team the Rams face will be "this big, this fast," McElwain said.

No other team stacks up to what the Tide represents.

"Let's go measure ourselves, and then let's evaluate and move forward, because we've got a long season ahead of us," McElwain said. "… It's going to be another learning tool for us.

"… Any team can beat any team on any given day; that's the age-old deal, right? … We're playing the best."